Just in case you are interested, here is the why to my gut journey. (P.S. That is not my gut in the picture.)
I have suffered depression, anxiety, stomach issues and headaches since my late teens, mixed in with my PCOS and severe gluten intolerance - I am about to tick over to 41 years old, suffice to say it has been a while.
I have been through many a doctors waiting room and thumbed through many an out-of-date trashy magazine - GPs, psychiatrist (I love her!), neurologist, headache specialist, gynaecologist, endocrinologist, naturopath, osteopath, chiropractor, physiotherapist, gastroenterologist, etc etc, I am sure you get the picture.
Sometimes I feel a bit better but always tip off the "feel good wagon" onto the "shit ship". The main takeaway from all this time is being sent on my merry way with band-aid solutions - take this pill for that or that pill for this. One doctor even told me that headaches were just going to be part of my life - thanks arsehat.
Now I am just exhausted and well and truly over it and as my wonderful psychiatrist said, "you need to get your shit together". She sent me for some blood tests and a Bioscreen poop test (delightful I know, but oh so fascinating!). The blood results actually weren't that bad - which left us perplexed and a little disappointed, we had hoped they would show something outstanding and give us the answers to all the questions.
The Bioscreen test on the other hand, totally different story. It was BAD, which was good. This was more than likely the answer to all the questions....well at least some of them.
What does the Bioscreen test actually test for I hear you ask....well, let me tell you. It is a Faecal Microbial Analysis, which is basically checking out the microflora in your large intestinal tract. The good thing is that it checks out what shouldn't be there as well as what should.
The organisms that this test focuses on are aerobic bacteria (E.coli, non-E.coli coliforms, Enterococcus, Staphylococcus, and. Streptococcus spp.), anaerobic bacteria (Bacteroides, Eubacterium, Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, Clostridium, Prevotella and Porphyromonas, Peptostreptococcus spp.), and yeasts, (Candida spp.,).
My test looked something like this:
The Aerobic bacteria (apparently need air to survive)...
E.coli (there is actually a strain of E.coli that does good in your gut) - 0% (should be 70-90%)
Enterococcus - 10.20% (should be <5%)
Streptococcus - 89.80% (should be <5%)
The Anaerobic bacteria (apparently don't need air to survive)...
Bacteroides (Lo) 41.25% (should be 90-95%)
Eubacterium 13.45% (should be <15%)
Lactobacillus 0% (should be 0.5-1.5%)
Bifidobacterium 0% (should be 5-11%)
Clostridium 44.84% (should be 1-10%)
As you can, not the best....in fact far from it. Ever increasing research says that the gut is the real brain of your bod, so best look after it. Apparently with these dodgy guts Dr Lee and also Dr Henry Butt (owner of Bioscreen) are not surprised I am anxious, depressed, headachey and exhausted.
Therefore, it is time to get action (and stick to it).
The first integrative doctor I saw about these results sent me for more blood tests to check cooper, zinc, pyrroles, histamine and some hormonals. These showed that I was a Pyrrole (which is a biochemical imbalance involving an abnormality in haemoglobin synthesis that can be caused by "leaky gut syndrome") and also an overmethylator (basically someone who has low blood histamine, low plasma zinc, elevated copper leading to anxiety and depression).
Wasn't the biggest fan of the first doctor I saw, as I have mentioned previously, so this week I went back to the wonderful Dr Lee.....the good thing was that I had all the tests done and dusted so we could jump straight into my "get my gut better" journey.
Have you had a bioscreen done?
Are you a pyrrole? or overmethylator?
{image}
